Mobile Diagnostics and Erasure Quick Start Guide

Downloading the Software

Start by downloading the needed products and tools. All the required software can be downloaded from the support tab in the BMP.

What's needed:

• Blancco Mobile Diagnostics and Erasure
• Blancco USB Creator

Creating Bootable Media

1. Run the Blancco USB Creator Tool as an Administrator.
2. Plug in a USB drive.
3. Select your USB drive from the “Media” drop-down list.
   
4. Click “Add” and navigate to your Blancco ISO file.
5. Click “Create” to make your bootable USB.
   
   NOTE: If “Format” is selected you will receive the following warning message. Click “Yes” to continue.
   
6. Once completed click “Done”.
   

Installing Blancco Mobile Diagnostics and Erasure

Prerequisites

Hardware requirements and recommendations:

Read more detailed requirements from the Blancco Mobile Diagnostics and Erasure user manual (available from the Blancco Management Portal).

Firewall requirements: 

• Internet connection is required to erase iOS devices
• Make sure that there is no firewall blocking the Apple servers:
  • itunes.apple.com
  • appldnld.apple.com
  • appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net
  • gs.apple.com
  • gg.apple.com
  • 17.151.36.30
  • 17.171.36.30

USB related requirements:

• USB hubs with an external power supply
  • 500mA/port is recommended
  • Note that every single device connected to a USB port (USB stick, HASP, keyboard, mouse) consumes power and "performance resources" 
• PCI Express USB adapters
  • Standard USB adapters integrated to motherboards do not usually have sufficient bandwidth for handling a high number of concurrent device connections
  • Use PCI Express USB adapters to allow more devices to be processed simultaneously
  • PCI-e USB 3.0 adapters with the NEC Renesas uPD720201 or uPD720202 chipset are recommended
  • PCI-e adapter card should get power from the PC power supply and NOT through the motherboard
• Connect a proper amount of devices per USB bus
  • It is recommended to connect max. 20 devices per USB bus
• Use high-quality USB cables
  • For iOS devices, use cables that Apple has certified and that come with the "Made for iPod/iPhone/iPad" logo
  • For Android devices with USB-C cable, use cables that are compliant with the USB-C specification. Non-compliant USB-C cable can damage the mobile device and the PC.

NFC Tag: Must be NTAG216 with 888 bytes of storage space

Permanent Installation

1. When booting up a machine without BMDE installed, the following screen is displayed:
   
2. The keyboard layout can be selected by pressing Select Keyboard Layout. This will open a drop down menu with the available keyboard layouts:
   
3. The language for the installation wizard and the software can be selected by pressing Select Language. This will open a dropdown menu with all available languages:
   
4. The Permanent Installation button will start the installation process for permanent on the HDD.
   By pressing the Skip Installation button, the installation to the HDD will be skipped and the software will be run on the RAM and the installation wizard will skip to Set Network stage. (not recommended)
   
   Note: If the software is run without a permanent installation, all files (including large firmware images) will be stored in the RAM. In a production environment always install the software on the disk by using the permanent installation option. Also installing the boot loaders allows you to boot from the hard disk on subsequent runs, making the boot faster.
5. No matter which button is pressed, the End User License Agreement is shown. The whole agreement must be read, understood and accepted before it is possible to proceed. Use arrow keys or Page Up and Down buttons or scroll wheel to scroll the text. When the end of the agreement is reached, press Accept to continue.
   
   If the Back button is pressed and the EULA is not accepted, the user is returned to the starting menu. Using the software is not possible without accepting the EULA.
6. Permanent Installation will create a partition on the HDD for BMDE and install all the boot-related files to the disk. After the installation is complete, all user accounts, settings and firmware images will be saved on the HDD. Please note that a permanent installation on an external USB hard drive is not supported. Note that previous data on the disk is deleted, if the permanent installation is used.

   Automatic partitioning option is recommended.
   
   The first screen of the permanent installation will offer two choices for partitioning; automatic and manual. Note that the minimum size of the partition is 20GB.
   
   When Automatic partitioning has been selected, the following screen will be shown:
   
   Select the disk you wish to install BMDE on from the Selected disk dropdown menu and press Start installation. Note that the automatic process will partition the whole disk into three partitions (data, drive and swap).

7. After the installation has been completed, the following popup will be shown:
   
8. Remove the installation media (if the software was installed from USB memory stick or from an optical disc) and press either Shutdown (this shuts the machine down) or Restart (this restarts the machine). When the machine is booted the next time (either through restart or normal boot), the installation wizard will continue the login screen. Note that if a network is not found by the wizard, then a configuration wizard for network connection is started on the next boot.

Set-up Wizard

1. After installing BMDE, running the system for the first time will open up the Blancco BMDE set-up wizard.
   
   First you configure the workstation type, language and keyboard layout. These can be changed later:
   
2. Adjust timezone, time and date settings:
   
   
3. Define Administrator's password and settings:
   
   

4. Next, you will need to connect to Blancco Management Portal for license consumption.
   
   We recommend to tick Authenticate users from BMP to simplify the user login process. In this case your local BMDE credentials are the same as the cloud one.
   

   Note! "Authenticate users from source" requires users' internal password to be used and doesn't support the "Company ID" login method available in Blancco Management Portal.

5. After checking for the credentials, the program will check for any existing workflows in BMP. You can choose whether to synchronize them or not.
   
   

6. Last step is configuring the Wi-Fi settings. For processing Apple devices, Wi-Fi is required.
   
   
7. After entering the Wi-Fi details, the setup is complete. If you need to bring up the Wizard again, hold Ctrl + Shift when booting up BMDE.
   
   

Configuring Device Preparation Features

iOS Device Set-up

Bandwidth Scalability

As listed in the "Minimum requirements", an internet connection is required to process iOS devices. However, there is a limit of how many devices can be connected to a single Wi-Fi access point at once. With the "Bandwidth Scalability" feature, it is possible to process iOS devices without manually setting up a Wi-Fi connection and without exceeding the Wi-Fi access point capacity.

Bandwidth Scalability feature routes the traffic through the host's PC internet connection, thus minimizing Wi-Fi delay and reducing traffic to and from Apple servers.

Supported devices:

• iPhones with iOS 14 and newer
• iPads with iPadOS 14 and newer

The feature can be enabled from the Login screen via System Settings > Admin Control > Other settings.

Important: When enabling "Bandwidth Scalability", the devices being tested will access the same network as the BMDE station. Please check with your IT team if there are any security concerns.

Note: If Bandwidth Scalability is not enabled, user must configure an internet connection normally.

Automatic Wi-Fi Configuration

If the Configure Wi-Fi after activation has been selected, the iOS device’s Wi-Fi settings will be updated with the Wi-Fi information given in this setting. The following Wi-Fi settings are updated on the device:

• SSID – SSID used.
• Password – Password for the SSID.
• Hidden SSID – Is the SSID hidden or not.
• Security – WPA-PSK, WEP or none.
• Remove Configuration – On default, this configuration is removed after diagnostics has been completed. If the other option (Never) is selected, then these settings are not removed at any point.

Additional helpful content

• Apple iOS device processing preparations

Android Device Set-up

Android Express Setup Work Instructions

This feature helps you to quickly activate Android devices and also automatically enable USB Debug mode which is required to process them.

Important Notes

Android Devices – QR Scanner Software Install

• Some Android devices may prompt you to install the QR Scanner Software.

  • The QR Scanner software is part of the Android OS and does not require connection to a Hotspot. Note that this does not apply to old Androids. With old Androids user will need to connect to any WiFi and download the QR code reader application as instructed on the phone's screen.

• Follow the on-screen prompts to install the software.

  • Once installed, you may begin using it.

Samsung Galaxy S9 SM-G960U1 with Android version 9

• This specific device has been identified as not compatible with the Express Setup – QR Code.

• These devices need to be updated to Android version 10 to work with the Express Setup – QR Code.

For Android devices with Android 13 or later, the device display can be kept constantly on during setup with the "Express Setup keep device display always on only during the provisioning" setting.

Express Setup Settings

There are two methods for Express Setup Settings:

Option 1 - External Wi-Fi Hotspot

Go to Settings > Android > locate "Express Setup Settings" section.

1. Check the "Enabled" checkbox.
2. Select the "External Hotspot" from "Wi-Fi interface".
3. Fill in "Wi-Fi Network Name".
4. Fill in "Wi-Fi Network Password".
5. Click on "Apply" to save the settings.
6. Verify that the "Web Server Status" is Running.

The system is now ready to use the Express Setup QR Code.

Option 2 - Internal Wi-Fi Adapter

BMDE Workstation must be connected to the internet with an ethernet cable. This is required to handle licensing from the Management Console, and post reports.

Go to Settings > Android > Express Setup Settings.

1. Check the "Enabled" checkbox.
2. Select the Wi-Fi adapter from "Wi-Fi interface".
3. Wait for the "Internet Connection status" to turn green and say "Running".
4. Click on "Apply" to save the settings.
5. Verify that the "Web Server Status" is Running.

Erasure Settings

iOS Erasure

Select the erasure method you would like to use from the setting > iOS > Erasure Standard Section:

• iOS Smart Reset: Is the default option this method provides the option to verify the state of the device if the device is in an inactive state the eraser can be completed much more quickly, as it’s not required to install the OS. However, if the device is in an activated state, the apple iOS erasure will be performed.
• Apple iOS Erasure: Is a cryptographic Erase which will install latest version of OS at the end of the process.
• Additionally, you have overwriting standards which will overwrite the capacity itself. Please note that these standards will take significantly longer.

Android Erasure

Select the erasure method you would like to use from the setting > Android > Erasure Standard Section:

• Android smart reset: When using this options, the mobile software will check if the device is encrypted, if it is a factory reset will be performed. If the device is not encrypted, the operate will be asked to enable the encryption and then a standard overwrite will be performed.
• Factory Reset: Performs the built-in factory reset of the device.
• Overwriting standards: Default method being Aperiodic Random which will overwrite the capacity itself. Please note that these standards will take significantly longer than the factory reset.

Diagnostics Settings

Diagnostic tests can be selected from the Setting > Diagnostic Tab:

A list of tests are already set as default for all Apple and Android devices. If you wish to create a customised test suite please click on ‘Create New’ and give a name for the test set and click OK.

Tests can be selected by dragging tests from the “Available test” field to the “Selected tests” field.